Alpha Dog (2006)

Director: Nick Cassavetes

Cast: Bruce Willis as Sonny Truelove, Matthew Barry as Interviewer (as Matt Barry), Emile Hirsch as Johnny Truelove, Fernando Vargas as Tiko 'TKO' Martinez, Vincent Kartheiser as Pick Giaimo, Justin Timberlake as Frankie Ballenbacher, Shawn Hatosy as Elvis Schmidt, Alex Solowitz as Bobby '911', Alec Vigil as P.J. Truelove, Harry Dean Stanton as Cosmo Gadabeeti, Frank Cassavetes as Adrian Jones, Nicole Dubos as Neighborhood Girl on Couch, Regina Rice as Dance Bitch Girl, Laura Nativo as Party Girl, Ben Foster as Jake Mazursky

Maybe I just had to wait too long for this one to finally come out. I
have never been a Justin Timberlake fan, but he was one of the best
things about this movie. You cannot dislike him in this. He does a good
job of showing us the moral dilemma he is twisting in. I always love
Emile Hirsch but found this character a little one dimensional. Gone
were the moments where you can see everything he thinks and feels on
his face as when he portrays Z-boy Jay Adams or as Tim Travis in
"Imaginary Heroes." He is supposed to be the heartless bad guy in this
and since he is portraying a real person perhaps the flatness of this
character is due to an accurate depiction of real life Jesse James
Hollywood. What this character lacks in emotion, others, such as
"Susan" and "Keith," give us a bit more to watch. Bruce Willis and
Sharon Stone are believable most of the time, but some moments feel
incongruent (Stones final scene for example was over the top and in
such a bad way). Likewise Ben Foster's Jake Mazursky is all over the
place as a strung out-stressed out loser that starts the whole mess. He
has moments of brilliance but otherwise he's just too much. The movie
is way too long and tries to focus on every player in this truly tragic
story. I would have liked more of Anton Yelchin's Zach and more of the
emotional battles of the key characters and far less of the get high
and blast out violent rap while insulting our sex partners in front of
the whole gang. The story itself is captivating, but the movie tries
too hard to do too much and gets in its own way. Yet I don't feel
cheated out of the ticket price.